LAUSR

BACKGROUND This study aimed to investigate the effects of the supplementation of sesame flour in fermented chicken sausages [S1 (800 g kg-1 chicken fillet, 180 g kg-1 veal fat and 20 g kg-1 sesame flour) and S2 (800 g kg-1 chicken fillet, 160 g kg-1 veal fat and 40 g kg-1 sesame flour) batches compared to Control (800 g kg-1 chicken fillet and 200 g kg-1 veal fat)] batch on the physico-chemical, textural and structure during the fermentation stage. RESULTS The physicochemical parameters of samples belonging to the Control, S1 and S2 batches were significantly affected by the addition of sesame flour and the fermentation stage. For instance: i) the lowest protein content was observed for control samples on day 1 (61.4 ± 6.52 g kg-1 ), while the highest level was noted for S2 samples on day 15 (327.5 ± 22.2 g kg-1 ); ii) an inverse trend was observed for the fat content since the lowest content was observed for samples belonging to S2 batch on day 1 (129.0 ± 5.30 g kg-1 ), while the highest one was noted for samples belonging to control batch on day 15 (332.0 ± 1.29 g kg-1 ). The application of statistical methods to the mid infrared spectroscopy allowed clear discrimination between Control, S1 and S2 batches. The addition of sesame flour in the recipes induced some modification in the secondary structure since β-turn levels ranged from 39.30 to 34.50, 36.76 to 34.70, and 38.93 to 34.70 for Control, S1 and S2 batches, respectively throughout the fermentation stage. The SDS-PAGE showed a similar pattern of protein profile in the three batches on day 1 and 5, but on day 10, Control and S2 batches showed the most intense degradation of myofibrillar proteins. CONCLUSION The results demonstrated that mid-infrared spectroscopy coupled with chemometric tools could be used as a rapid screening tool to assess and monitor the quality of dry chicken sausages enriched with sesame flour throughout the fermentation stage. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.